Northern Arizona University becomes site of 46th school shooting this year

It happened again last night. This time one person was killed and three injured in a shooting at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.

According to reports, there was a confrontation, and a student — who has been identified as 18-year-old freshman Steven Jones — pulled out a gun and shot four people around 1:20 a.m. outside a residence hall on campus.

The circumstances around this incident are markedly different from those at Umpqua Community College just a week ago, but it’s chilling nonetheless when these incidents happen at places where we send our children to learn. A school shooting is defined as an event “when a firearm was discharged inside a school building or on school or campus grounds, as documented by the press or confirmed through further inquiries with law enforcement,” and the numbers are startling.